Ichigo fought the Numero brutally, dispatching him as quickly as he could. He desperately wanted to go back to Grimmjow. He'd caught a glimpse of the ex-Espada's wounds, and he didn't think it was good. As soon as the Numero was dead and disappearing, he flash stepped back to the parking lot.

As it turned out, he was slightly wrong. Grimmjow's injuries might be severe, but the blue haired man was extremely tough. He was sitting up, idly poking at his fallen gigai with the tip of his sword as Roku tried to give him more healing. Ichigo could tell that the older man's reiatsu was almost completely tapped out, though. He just didn't have any more healing to give.

"Hey Ichigo. It looks like I am one hell of a bleeder. What are we going to do about this?" Grimmjow tried to stand and winced, gripping his stomach. "Fuck. Remind me to apologize to Rukia for that time, this shit is painful isn't it?" Ichigo huffed and gripped his arm, making him sit back down. "Hey!"

"Stop being an idiot. You're badly hurt." Ichigo pushed down the black fabric of Grimmjow's pants, wincing as he got a good view of the wound. "Very badly hurt." He said under his breath. "How can you even move?"

"His head is made of solid bone." Roku answered and Grimmjow glowered as Ichigo laughed. Then Ichigo sat back for a moment, just looking Grimmjow over.

He had changed, of course. The hollow hole was gone, and so were the remains of his hollow mask. His spiritual body still had the marks beside his eyes, which had been missing on the gigai. His clothing was the most striking change. He was still wearing a jacket and hakama, but they were jet black. The spots that had been black on Aizen's uniform were the same blue as Grimmjow's eyes. It wasn't much like a regular shinigami outfit, but it was striking.

"You look beautiful like this." Ichigo said without thinking, meeting intense blue eyes. Grimmjow grinned at him then laughed.

"You tell me this now? Shit, if we tried to have sex it'd kill me!" Ichigo scowled and slapped him upside the head. "Hey, watch it, injured man over here – huh?" They both looked up as Roku came out of the building holding some garbage bags. "What are those for – oh my god, seriously?" Grimmjow watched in fascination and a bit of horror as Roku began shoving his broken gigai into the bag. "Have you had practice with this?"

"Yes, actually. I had to handle broken gigai's several times, usually due to absolute idiocy on the part of a juvenile soul reaper." Roku sounded disgusted and Ichigo shook his head with a smile. He could absolutely see that happening, especially in Tokyo. Karakura town was much safer and Renji had still gotten himself in at least one serious fix. "And we can't just leave them for the police." Roku paused, looking at the heart in disgust. "Excuse me, I'm going to get some paper towels for that." They both watched him go and Grimmjow leaned back with a sigh.

"Very practical and slightly creepy. Ulquiorra would approve. So are we going to go to Kisuke's?" He asked. Ichigo thought about it a moment and nodded.

"He can see if the gigai is fixable, and if not, discard it. Actually, discard it, we should get you a proper gigai. Also a badge and a mod soul." Ichigo frowned. He would have to go through the proper channels to get Grimmjow a substitute shinigami badge. And as for mod souls… "Just don't get a Chappy." He still had a few hard feelings about his encounter with Rukia's Chappy.

"I'm not getting a Kon either." Grimmjow growled and Ichigo winced, gently patting his shoulder. Grimmjow hadn't demanded that he get rid of the mod soul, but the hard feelings were lingering. Then Roku came out, with a roll of paper towels. He used them to get the heart in the bag and sop up some of the blood, adding them to the bag. "Okay. Um. How are we doing this?"

"Roku, do you know Kisuke's shop?" Ichigo asked hopefully but the older man shook his head. "Drat. I guess we should all go together then." He could guide Roku to the shop. Grimmjow tried to stand up again and Ichigo grabbed his arm with a scowl. "Stop being a moron!"

"Hey, we're going right – ah!" Grimmjow made a surprised grunt as Ichigo picked him up, bridal style. "I must be heavy for you." He muttered, gripping the teen's shoulders.

"I'll be fine." Ichigo said and carried him without much sign of strain as Roku led them to one of the company vans. The older man was carrying the garbage bag, also without much sign of strain. He quickly opened the doors and Ichigo gently set Grimmjow inside. "Now, stop being stupid." Ichigo said severely and Grimmjow couldn't help but grin.

"This from you? The guy who got the living shit beat out of him by Nnoitra, and still tried to attack me? You practically had your guts hanging out!" He said, amused. That had been impressively suicidal, at the time. Kurosaki scowled at him.

"Pfft. Do as I say, not what I do." Grimmjow was still trying to puzzle that out when Roku tossed the bag in and shut the doors. Shrugging to himself, he lay down and tried to ignore the bumps. The company vans weren't exactly the smoothest ride, especially for the cargo in the back. Grimmjow closed his eyes and, despite the bumps, managed to doze off.

He really wasn't feeling too great right now.

Ichigo glanced up at the ceiling before making another pot of tea.

Grimmjow was asleep upstairs. Kisuke had gotten him a regular gigai and some soul candy, for when he needed to leave his body behind. He'd programmed it to know cars and have a good work ethic, but the rest of the personality was still a mystery. A terrifying mystery, but they'd find out someday. For now, Grimmjow was trying to sleep off his injuries. The gigai he was in was undamaged, but that didn't make the damage to his soul body any less profound.

"Hey, Ichi." Karin poured herself a cup of tea, and Ichigo waved at her, leaning against the counter. "Where are Goat face and Yuzu?"

"No idea." Ichigo said frankly. "But they're not in the house, the car is gone." He was sure of that. Karin grunted in satisfaction.

"Good, I have a question for you." She said as Ichigo took a sip of his tea. "If you break up with the bluebell, can I have his phone number?" Ichigo sprayed the table with tea, then coughed violently. Karin looked at him with faint exasperation. "Gross, Ichi-nii."

"Karin! You're thirteen!" He yelped, utterly horrified. Karin shrugged.

"I'm young, not dead." She pointed out. "And he has amazing buns." Ichigo looked at his sister in horror, then realized she was yanking his chain. Although maybe she was partly serious, he wasn't entirely sure. Then he realized something.

"Wait, you know about us?" He glanced up the stairs, involuntarily. Karin snorted before drinking her tea.

"I hate to break it to you, Ichi, but everyone except Goat-face and Yuzu have figured it out. Even Orihime has figured it out." Ichigo flushed, feeling quite embarrassed. "I think the only reason dad and Yuzu haven't gotten it is because they're completely denying that you're gay." Karin shook her head. "I've known you were gay for years."

"What?" Ichigo blinked. "How could you? I didn't know I was gay until Grimmjow… I didn't even know!" He knew he was blushing and couldn't help it. But how could Karin have known?

"It's the way you look at people." She explained as he stared at her. "You don't notice girls at all, not really. You never did, not like the other guys in your class. I mean, Orihime would enter the room and you'd just look at her face when every other guy had to glance at her hips and boobs." Ichigo wasn't sure if he was fascinated or appalled by that revelation. "You do know that Grimmjow isn't totally gay, right?" Karin sounded a bit worried and Ichigo blinked, taking a sip of his tea as he tried to control his blushes.

"Uh, yes, he said he's bisexual." He managed to say and Karin looked relieved.

"Good, I just wanted to make sure he wasn't deceiving you on that. If he hurts you, I'll have to kill him." Karin sounded fierce and Ichigo wondered how she would react if she knew how their relationship had started in the first place. It was better not to even go there. "But if you break up with him, I want his number. He's all kinds of awesome."

"Karin!" Ichigo couldn't help but laugh. "I'm not going to break up with him. I love him." The admission came out easily, and he realized he'd wanted to make it for a long time. It felt good to tell Karin how he felt. His sister blinked, just looking at him for a moment.

"Wow, you really do. When are you going to tell dad and Yuzu?" She asked and Ichigo cringed internally. That was not going to be a fun discussion.

"I'd hoped to put it off until I was ready to move out." He said, but the look on Karin's face said she didn't think much of that plan. "What?"

"That's pretty hard on Grimmjow, Ichi-nii." She pointed out and Ichigo nodded glumly. She had a point. "And they'll probably catch you someday, you know. You can get kind of loud when you think no one's going to hear you."

"Thanks Karin." Ichigo sighed to himself. He knew she was probably right. "What do you suggest I do?" He might as well listen to her ideas. He didn't have to follow them.

"You should just sit them all down, tell them you're gay and that Grimm is your bishie." Ichigo choked a bit at the mental image of Grimmjow as a bishie. It was wrong on so many levels. And if Grimmjow knew what a bishonen was, he'd probably rip his throat out with his teeth. "They'll completely freak out, dad will cry to mom's poster and you might even have to move out if it goes badly enough. But I looked at Grimm's last paystub, you can totally afford it."

"What! You little snoop… wait, how much is he making?" Ichigo asked apprehensively. He knew being a mechanic paid well, but he hadn't been sure how well and he hadn't been willing to ask Grimmjow. He'd been taught that kind of question was very rude. Of course, so had Karin, which was probably why she'd snooped in the first place. Karin smiled at him broadly.

"Oh, a thousand, eight hundred and twenty dollars." She said calmly and Ichigo was a bit speechless. "A pay period. That's after taxes."

"Really?" Ichigo knew his father earned more, but being a doctor required taking on a lot of debt. Grimmjow had lucked out in that area, he had no debt at all unless you counted the old Buick Skyfire he'd bought and was fixing up. The antique muscle car was costing him money, but since he was doing it himself the labor was free. "That's not bad at all." He allowed. Grimmjow could easily rent a pretty nice place in Karakura. The rents here were not insane like Tokyo. "I wouldn't want him to have to do that though." He said worriedly and Karin rolled her eyes.

"I bet he'd LOVE to do that. Complete freedom to screw you anytime he wants!" She said cheerfully and Ichigo blushed bright red. What had gotten into his little sister? Was this female puberty? Actually, it probably was, that would explain why she wanted Grimmjow's number. Although his dad would completely freak at the thought, and Ichigo would probably join him if she was actually serious. "And he could sleep with you and not on the floor."

"I'm not sure he would. Grimmjow likes sleeping on the floor." He shrugged as Karin gave him a disbelieving look. "He says the bed is too soft." After seeing how Grimmjow had lived in Los Noches, Ichigo could understand that. He'd had almost no comforts in that little room, and hadn't seemed to miss them.

"You'd have to get a bigger one anyway, so you could get the type that has one hardness on one side and a different on the other." Karin said and Ichigo blinked. That was actually a rather good idea. "But really, that's just stupid to worry about Ichi-nii. Are you going to tell them or not?"

"I'll have to think about it. But thanks for the input, Karin." He said and actually meant it. A lot of the time, that would have been a snide comeback. Karin shrugged and started getting out her schoolwork. Ichigo finished his tea and went up to his room to think. Grimmjow wasn't home yet, so he would have some quiet time to think completely undisturbed.

Lying down on his bed, he thought very hard about whether or not to tell his family about him and Grimmjow. One thing he was certain of. If he was going to come clean to his family about himself and Grimmjow, he wanted to be absolutely certain of his feelings for the ex Espada.

Ichigo closed his eyes and remembered. Even though it hurt a bit, he went back to the very beginning and remembered how Grimmjow had raped him. It hadn't hurt, but 'no' hadn't been an option so it had definitely been rape. He could remember his shame, fury and disgust at what the arrancar had done to him. He'd suffered through two weeks of it. And yet… Grimmjow had confused him. All through that time, he'd made sure that Ichigo was not in pain, made sure he had plenty of food. There were small gestures of kindness, moments where Grimmjow was focused on nothing but him and his needs. It was probably Helsinki syndrome, but by the end he had been starting to appreciate those moments and realize there was something behind them, something he didn't understand.

Then Grimmjow had helped him and Inoue to escape. Ichigo shivered at the thought of becoming an arrancar. He was sure Grimmjow had saved him from grotesque torture, and when they'd reached Urahara's he'd realized that Grimmjow was in deep trouble. He'd thrown his life away, practically signed his death warrant to save his fuck toy and a woman he didn't care about. Why? The only conclusion Ichigo had been able to reach was that he wasn't just a fuck toy to the Espada. He couldn't figure out what Grimmjow thought he was, but he knew it was more than that. And he'd thought he would never find out. When Grimmjow left Urahara's, Ichigo had been certain he'd never see the blue haired Espada again, except maybe in pieces.

It had been a shock when the shinigami had suddenly began questioning him about Grimmjow and the nature of their 'relationship'. It had been a worse shock to find out that Grimmjow had been taken by the shinigami the day he saved the two of them. Realizing that he'd been tortured for nearly a month and a half had caused a painful guilt, a heavy weight in Ichigo's heart. Because he did care about the man he'd written off for dead. He cared because Grimmjow had given up everything for them. That one act wiped away so many stains.

But that was where things got murky. How had his confused feelings, his simple caring for the ex Espada turned into love? Ichigo thought it was a combination of hormones, respect and appreciation for the new Grimmjow he was seeing. The one that had always been there, underneath the blood soaked warrior. The weird hollow mating rituals, the love for cars, the guy who wore the ugliest sunglasses he could find… that Grimmjow was the real Grimmjow, to him. Not the absolute lunatic he'd first met, or even the man who'd gently raped him. It was like he was a whole new person.

Ichigo knew that was mostly an illusion. Grimmjow hadn't changed, he'd just found out who Grimmjow really was. He'd always liked cars and if Los Noches had been like the Seireitei, he'd probably have been with Renji at the sunglasses shop. But it really didn't matter. The person he knew now was the one he loved, and it didn't matter that the start had been painful and strange.

Ichigo sighed and decided Karin was right. He had to tell his dad and Yuzu. But first, he needed to tell Grimmjow his decision and get his input. This would affect him every bit as much as Ichigo. Satisfied with that decision, he sat up to get out his own homework. It might not be due for a few days, but he could still get started.

Grimmjow came into the room while he was typing, carrying a skewer of meat in one hand and a mug of tea in the other.

"Hey Ichigo, want some lizard on a stick?" Ichigo looked up, surprised, and looked at the skewer. It didn't look like lizard. "Hah, just kidding, it's chicken. I picked it up from this hole in the wall place near my work."

"Sure, I'd like a piece." His stomach reminded him of how long it had been since supper as he took a chunk of the chicken. "Do you know what Yuzu's making for supper?"

"She's not. It's fend for yourself tonight, she's still off with her dad. Wonder why they're taking so long to get home?" Grimmjow only sounded curious but Ichigo frowned, closing his books. It was nearly seven. That wasn't super late, everyone usually went to bed for ten, but it was past when they normally had supper. "Anyway, I could make something. We've got lots of veggies in the fridge and some sausage, could make one of my random shit concoctions." Ichigo nodded. Those were actually rather good, Grimmjow just sliced up a bunch of available vegetables, tomatoes and onions then added spices. Sometimes Indian or something Italian, depending on mood. The spices were always a little random though. Cinnamon seemed to find its way into everything. "Or we could order something. I got the dime if you've got the time."

"Huh? Is that from Fallout?" He seemed to remember that phrase from some kind of video game. It was pretty apt in this case. Grimmjow had the money, but did he want to wait for take-out to arrive? Hmm. "Actually, yeah, can we get some pizza?" It would take the least time, probably, and be absolutely delicious. Grimmjow nodded with a grin.

"I'll order it. Straight pepperoni?" He asked and Ichigo shook his head.

"Not tonight. Go wild… just no anchovies." He cautioned and Grimmjow laughed.

"No anchovies, right!" Grimmjow pulled out his cell phone and leaned against the wall. Ichigo was amused to find out he had the pizza place saved onto his contact list. A few minutes later and he'd ordered a seafood medley pizza and a meat deluxe, both medium. "That should be okay, right?" He asked Ichigo, who nodded.

"I'd like to try the seafood medley, I've never had that." He answered and for some reason Grimmjow looked very pleased. They were both caught completely by surprise as the door to the room slammed open and almost hit Grimmjow in the face.

"Ichigo! There's been an accident and Dad's been hurt!" Karin rushed into the room. "He's in the hospital and they just called!" Ichigo froze for a moment before vaulting off the bed. Grimmjow cursed and began to call someone.

"Yeah, I just called and I need to cancel that order…" He heard as he began to question Karin. His stomach clenched as he heard the details. A sign near the road had come lose and had gone flying in the wind and hit the car. Fortunately, it had hit flat against the windshield or Yuzu and Isshin could have been cut apart. Unfortunately, their dad had gone off the road and into a tree at that point. Ichigo couldn't blame him a bit.

"He's in the hospital Ichi-nii. Yuzu's okay, mostly, she has a broken arm. But they're not sure dad is gonna…" Karin stayed dry eyed but she was swaying slightly on her feet. Ichigo hugged her for a moment, even though she rarely needed comfort.

"He's going to be fine. Grimmjow, is your car running?" If it wasn't they would have to call a cab, and that would take time. The ex Espada had come up behind them and nodded.

"Yeah, I already put in the new seats and checked out all the important parts. It's just body work now, and no one at the hospital will give a shit if its puke green and full of dents. C'mon, let's go." Grimmjow said, leading them out of the house. He was paying for a spot at a nearby lot, which wasn't expensive but necessary. Their house had no driveway and street parking wasn't allowed here, the roads were too narrow. Isshin did the same with his car. Normally, Ichigo would have winced at the sight of Grimmjow's car. It was clearly a work in progress, with the ugliest paint job he'd ever seen. But now he just hopped in, consumed with worry about his family.

He could only hope they were okay.

"Dad…" Ichigo felt tears rise up as he looked at the limp, comatose form of his father.

Isshin had always seemed indestructible. He took kicks from Karin and Ichigo, fell out of windows and was stuck full of glass like a porcupine. He was full of energy, running around and trying to cheer them up whenever they became despondent. He was impossible to put down.

Until now. The crazy accident with the sign and the car crash after had very nearly done it. Isshin had broken bones, head injuries and they'd had to give him a huge blood transfusion. But he'd pulled through, and so far the doctors were cautiously optimistic about his chances. The head injuries didn't look too bad, a concussion and whiplash. The bones would heal, and the internal bleeding had been stopped. Unless there were complications. Ichigo had worked in a clinic, and he knew there was always a chance of complications.

Ichigo sniffed as he felt a warm, strong arm around him. He let himself lean against Grimmjow, accepting the comfort he had to offer. Karin was sitting in a chair beside Isshin, just looking at him as if he might wake up at any moment. But that wasn't going to happen. It was going to be hours at least before Isshin came out of the anesthesia, and probably longer before he regained consciousness.

"It's really weird seeing him like this. I'm sorry, Ichigo." Grimmjow said softly and Ichigo nodded, swallowing hard. But…

"Karin, we need to go home." He said gently and Karin looked up, her eyes damp with unshed tears. "The operation is over and he's okay. We have to go home and try to get to school." They still had to go on with life, and the hospital wouldn't allow them to stay forever. They'd already gone well past visiting hours. It was almost two in the morning. Grimmjow snorted.

"You guys aren't going to school tomorrow." He said bluntly. "Call off with a family emergency. You're not gonna get any sleep tonight." Ichigo hesitated, then nodded. Grimmjow was right. "C'mon, let's go." His tone was gentle and Ichigo nodded again before following the ex Espada out.

He only hoped Isshin would be recover.